Many passenger aircraft are equipped with fixed, wired passenger air phone systems designed to meet Federal Aviation Administration requirements for aircraft equipment. Air phones facilitate interconnect telephone services for passengers during flight through a satellite link. Because satellite calls are expensive, many airline passengers avoid calling from aircraft equipment and wait until the aircraft lands to connect with local wireless carriers through the passenger's own mobile equipment. These wireless calls are limited to the times and places that external systems are available, and the airlines have no control over the quality of service or the costs incurred by its passengers. Unable to charge for these calls, the airlines also lose a potential source of revenue.
Wireless service availability is often intermittent, unreliable and potentially very expensive in certain locations. The passenger may be roaming away from its home network, and roaming rates for using an available wireless network may be expensive for both the calling and called parties. For example, a call from a traveler visiting a foreign country to a local service such as a hotel may result in roaming charges as well as charges for an international call.
In view of the above, there is a need in the art for a wireless communications system that is adaptable to meet the communications needs of an aircraft and its passengers. There is a further need for a communications system that provides an aircraft with greater control over the usage, quality of service, and revenue associated with the wireless communications services used by its passengers.